We were talking about the last girl standing in horror films, the theory being that the good innocent girl beats the baddie - virtue triumphs. This reminded me of an Ealing comedy that was shown over Christmas, The Lady Killers, staring Alex Guiness, Herbert Lom and Peter Sellers, and Katie Johnson as the eccentric Mrs Louisa Wilberforce.
In a nutshell, a group of gangsters rent an upstairs room, pretending to be an amateur string quartet rehersing, and in reality are planning a bank robbery. When Mrs Wilberforce discovers the money, she insists it must be returned, and the gang draw straws to decide who will be the Lady Killer. Mayhem ensues as Mrs Wilberforce snoozes quietly in front of the fire.
My favourite scenes are the tea-party, where the gangsters are forced to behave well in front of Mrs Wilberforces' friends, and the washing up scene where they all meekly stand around with tea towels, drying up bone china whilst Mrs Wilberforce tells them off. An oldie but a goodie.
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